Alice on both sides of the looking glass: Performance, installations, and the real/virtual continuity

  • Authors:

  • Christian Jacquemin;Rami Ajaj;Bertrand Planes

  • Affiliations:

  • LIMSI - CNRS and University Paris-Sud, Orsay, France;DOCOMO Euro-Labs, Landsberger Str., Munich, Germany;Artist, Paris, France

  • Venue:
  • Computers in Entertainment (CIE) - Theoretical and Practical Computer Applications in Entertainment
  • Year:
  • 2011

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Abstract

The "Virtuality Continuum" describes the possible variety of mixed reality setups between virtual environments and the real world depending on the ratio of digital and physical elements. We study here another type of continuity that concerns the perceptual (mainly visual) coherence between the real and virtual worlds. This notion is of particular importance for the use of new media in the performing arts and installations, but is also known to be a key issue in the sense of immersion. By examining studies on film editing and on the design of Mixed Reality applications, three principles are defined for the sake of perceptual continuity and compatibility: point-of-view, space and time coherence, and illumination. Examples of art installations are analyzed according to these principles and illustrated through this model. Since it seems to us that illumination has been underestimated in the studies on perceptual coherence, the continuity of illumination in a Mixed Reality performance is described in more details at the level of real and virtual shadowing. From the implementation of these artworks, practical simplifications and a software architecture are proposed for the design of interactive Mixed Reality applications that follow the three principles of perceptual continuity. Future directions for a better integration of the real and virtual worlds are proposed together with their technological requirements.